It may be June but in Dundee we’re still celebrating some Yuletide cheer. A Fight Before Christmas III continues in this week’s edition of FCW Empire.

FCW Tag Team Championships – Red Gate (Valek & SAMUEL) defeated Anarchy Ink (Ryan Roode & Matty Mayhem) by pinfall to win the FCW Tag Team Championships.

Opening the episode was a match determine the new FCW Tag Team Champions after the titles being vacated after the injury to Caleb Valhalla.

Ryan Roode and Valek started off proceedings with Roode brushing off the challenge with ease. A swift drop toehold sent Ryan into the ropes with a SAMUEL sized knee to the side of the head have Red Gate the advantage.

The isolation of Ryan Roode begun with Red Gate scratching and clawing at the former FCW Heavyweight Champion. Roode fired back with a double clothesline to dive over and tag in Matty Mayhem who went about discombobulating his opponent’s with speed and agility.

Red Gate weathered the mayhem, Valek struck a knee into the back of Matty Mayhem to slow him down and keep him in the corner of Red Gate to be double teamed.

Momentum went back and forth with all four men laid out after a tower of doom. They got to their feet for a barrage, Mayhem hit a cutter on Valek, who then was driven to the mat with a headlock driver from SAMUEL, Roode planted SAMUEL for a Michnoku Driver, with Valek rebounding off the ropes for a lariat.

It was Matty Mayhem that seemed to come back to life first, running through Valek and lifting him up into a Fireman’s Carry. Valek wriggled out and grabbed his knee, while referee Lex Loomis was tended to a potential injury, SAMUEL sprayed red mist into the face of Matty Mayhem. Valek made a miraculous recovery to land a Sister Abigail and pin Mayhem to win the vacant FCW Tag Team Championships for Red Gate.

The match was fine, what hampered it perhaps is a little confusion on who the crowd should be supporting. Red Gate haven’t particularly done much to garner fan support, whereas Ryan Roode is coming off the repercussions of a feud with the popular Retro Randy Valentine.

Matty Mayhem left a very good first impression and was smooth in his offense. I noticed SAMUEL do a great job at closing loose ends when Valek pinned Mayhem to make sure Matty’s foot was pulled from under the bottom rope and hooked. An appreciated bit of ring awareness on show.

Euan G Mackie defeated Tommy Raiden by pinfall.

As the bell echoed around the Queens Hotel, Tommy Raiden tangled himself around the leg of Euan G Mackie, biting at the limb of Mackie to set the tone of bedlam.

Mackie endured a big shoulder tackle and a bombarding of stomps to the torso to fling Raiden back for a suplex. Tommy kept moving, slingshotting himself in for a spinning jumping flatliner for a near fall.

Raiden didn’t let up, attacking Euan erratically with the battle heading to the apron. Tommy swept the legs of Euan G Mackie to sent him crashing chest first onto the hardest part of the ring. It was turnabout fair play when Mackie spotted Tommy Raiden heading up to the second turnbuckle and grabbed Tommy’s legs to send him to the canvas.

The war for an advantage raged on, neither could quite get that upper hand. Mackie rammed Raiden from corner to corner, ending his combo with Sliced Bread that only gained him a two count. A missed leg drop gave Tommy the chance to swoop in, but a ZigZag couldn’t get the job done.

Tommy manoeuvred Euan into an abdominal stretch position, only to be taken over into a pin for Mackie to take victory.

Plenty of added eccentricities were shown from Tommy Raiden to get this Bedlam persona put across. Euan is a dependable opponent to react to make those little things become bigger and allowing focus to be drawn upon it.

FCW Women’s Championship – Eden defeated Molly Spartan by pinfall to retain.

A verbal joust before the lock up had Eden mouth off at Molly Spartan, pushing Molly into the corner in an attempt to bully about The Beautiful Bruiser. Molly take kindly to the disrespect, spinning Eden around by the neck to send the champion to the outside to reassess.

Molly went about punishing Eden with big splashes into the corner, sending Eden to the mat via a second turnbuckle double axe handle. Eden bided her time to catch Spartan off guard to begin choking and stomping at Molly. Eden glanced back and ducked a basement splash to keep Molly Spartan on defence as Spartan tried to fight off the assault.

Eden was quick to extinguish any fire that Spartan built, dragging her to the canvas with a side headlock takeover that looked like a fight. Molly came back again to punch her way out of danger, Eden side stepped a rampaging Spartan to have Molly collide head first into the turnbuckle.

With the challenger stumbling, Eden grabbed Molly’s arm to balance herself walking the top rope, breaking the grip to deliver a cutter to put Spartan away and retain the FCW Women’s Championship.

As the shows go on, Eden continues to show more confidence. It’s a far cry from the original concept of a wee creepy girl staring and throwing out a primal scream here and there. It’s like gaining title accolades and success is breaking that stoic spirit that Red Gate projects upon their members. There were a couple miscommunications between Molly and Eden but the overall match was solid.

The little things like Eden forcing Molly Spartan over for a headlock gives that realism to allow the immersion to stay intact and make it become more of a struggle. An enjoyable encounter.

It all made for a decent episode of FCW Empire, new champions crowned, a better look at Tommy Raiden, and a competitive main event. There were good handful of positives to take from this edition.

The show is available on YouTube: